MontanaWithKids.com

Terry, Montana
By: Bob van der Valk

I heard an interesting tidbit at the annual Terry Roping Club meeting held recently at the Lazy JD Bar and Restaurant in Fallon, Montana.

Mark Dolatta, describing some of the local colorful Terry history, said that in Montana a gathering of four or more Indians (p.c. Native Americans) is considered a war party and you are allowed to shoot them on sight. (more…)

Santa Claus meets Sinterklaas at the Stockman Bank in Terry, Montana

Dateline: Terry, Montana
December 4, 2009
By: Bob van der Valk

Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle arrived at the Festival of Lights Parade in Terry, Montana on December 1st this year. He visited with the people along the parade route as well as stopping by the shops along Logan Avenue all lit up with bright holiday lights.

Saint Nicholas getting a Montana Huckleberry candy treat from Dale and Kathy Galland at the Prairie Unique in Terry, Montana

Saint Nicholas is a legendary figure who, in many Western Cultures, brings gifts to the homes of the good children during the late evening and overnight hours of Christmas Eve, December 24th or on his Feast Day, December 6th (Saint Nicholas Day). This legend has part of its basis in tales concerning the historical figure of gift giver Saint Nicholas. (more…)

[/caption]

Aaron Flint and Bob van der Valk in front of the Badlands Cafe and Scoop Shoppe in Terry, Montana before doing the Voices of Montana broadcast

Terry, Montana
November 29, 2009
By: Bob van der Valk

The Badlands Cafe and Scoop Shoppe in Terry, Montana was visited by host Aaron Flint and his Voices of Montana radio show on Friday, November 27, 2009. His broadcast was beamed live from the cafe across the State of Montana on the Northern Broadcasting Network. (more…)

The Evelyn Cameron Gallery in Terry, Montana

Juli Thorson is the Editor and Associate Publisher of the Horse & Rider Magazine

Yesterday, I was finally able to do something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time.

I got to visit the Evelyn Cameron Gallery of her pioneer photography in Terry, Montana.

Never heard of her? That’s OK–most people haven’t, even though she is in the Cowgirl Hall of Fame and was the subject of a 2005 PBS documentary. (more…)

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel like I keep getting the worst assignments on the trip. Fine, fair enough, I’m the junior editor so I’ll write it up. Virginia City, Montana, is nothing but a tourist trap, and one that felt a pretty hard hit from the high gas costs this summer, what with being basically in the middle of nowhere. So this nowhere tour of nothing got hit hardest, and the real victim wasn’t the operator, who owns everything outright, but us poor tourists.
(more…)

We first visited Staggering Ox in Helena, where they have an unbelievable flagship eatery, complete with acres of kitsch, an art museum full of some of the least likely “art,” and a staff that just can’t be beat… they also have great food, but once you’re there, it hardly seems like the point. We loved the food, so we decided to focus on it more specifically this time around.
(more…)

Of all the things we saw in Montana, this was one of the best, most interesting for all ages, and most memorable too. It’s reasonably priced, has tons of stuff to check out and do, and even if you don’t do the underground tour, you can easily spend a few hours there without seeing anything twice.
(more…)

If you’re ever in up-city Helena, Montana and think you might be lost, there’s a good chance you are, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t good things to see. By “up-city” I really mean “up-hill” and I know because even though we found a cool little park to revive us, we were already worn down by our uphill trek.
(more…)

Historically, the train never made it all the way out to Virginia City, and it cost the settlers untold monies, whether they wanted to get goods or even just their mail (more than $1 over 100 years ago, if you can believe everything they tell you on your local tour), but that hasn’t stopped the local chamber of commerce from getting motive with their own chugga-chugga-short-line-choo-choo, and as a kid right in their demographic wheelhouse, I must admit it makes for great fun to ride.
(more…)

If you’re looking for something between cheap and free to do with your kids, a real standout is the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula. The museum is very cheap, but the historic collection around it is free and it’s got more fun stuff to play on than my parents could even endure.
(more…)

Any traveler of the Interstate-90 corridor through Montana will surely see signs for the Deer Lodge Prison Museum Complex, assuming they have eyes in their heads and some amount of brain connected to it. Personally I can’t read, but I have people who do that for me so I was keenly aware these billboards existed from the time I hit the state line, and so I count myself in the know. The complex is much more than that, but the Prison Museum is the heart, and if you miss it, you’re really missing it.
(more…)

There’s a city in Montana called Butte, and I know what you’re thinking, it sounds like something else (specifically “cute,” — which as far as cities go, it is — but there’s a lot more to the place than just having a great name. Turns out it also has a great history, but I’m not going to spend any time on that either. I’m here to talk about the Berkeley Pit.
(more…)